T wrote:
On 6/11/21 4:26 AM, songbird wrote:
T wrote:
On 6/10/21 6:08 PM, songbird wrote:
i get large bulbs (3-5 inches in diameter) because
i plant large cloves to begin with. the small cloves
we eat.

I planted thumb size cloves last fall and got cherry
sized bulbs this year.

https://www.burpee.com/vegetables/ga...ed-69054T.html

i didn't see anything about it being particularly winter
hardy, nor did i see anything about it being tolerant of
arid climate or poorer soils. not sure how it was treated
so i can't say much else.

That came from private correspondences with Burpee.
They actually test bedded those guys in zone 6B, same
as mine. It was the one they specifically called
out for me. And they knew around were I lived too:
arid and all. And I kept them water all winter long,
being careful not to over water. They over wintered
perfectly.

ok. the size of the resulting bulb is going to be
determined by the most active part of the growing
season in the spring following winter (in a freezing
environment where the plant is mostly dormant).

the variety, quality of the soil, spacing of the
plants, moisture during the growing season, amount of
sunlight and weed competition are the major factors
in bulb size. since i plant in pretty good soil here
that has been amended with worm castings and organic
material i do not usually fertilze the plants while
they are growing and get excellent results.

often people put plants too close together and that
does make a big difference in bulb size. if i put
my garlic 6 inches apart that is too close. at least
8 inches or more helps get larger bulbs.


Note: died last week in May

did you inspect the plant remains?

so it survived or didn't it?

The plants grew only about 8 inches all. They
never scaped. They entire tops died off down to
the ground. I had to dig out the whole bed to
find the bulbs (and probably missed several) as
the tops were starting to blow away in the wind.
The bulbs ranged in size between a marble and
a cherry.

oh, ok, so it did survive, so the above sentence
should have read "died back" instead of "died".


songbird